Fabric Overview

Real craftsmanship starts with an examination of your tools. In our case, fabric is the tool we carve, paint and create with. It's at the heart of everything we make.

Most companies buy their fabrics 'off the shelf' choosing from the array of what's already on the market. Not us. We needed fabrics that went beyond the norm, in multiple areas. Our materials researchers and designers worked closely with our fabric suppliers to push the design envelope forward and create new, more sustainably produced fabrics that could deliver the highest levels of technical performance as well as the finest hand, texture and drape. And we're not done yet. We continue to look for ways to drive the development of sustainable fabrics into the future, for our own use and industry-wide.

Of the 28 fabrics in our Fall 08 line, 26 were created from scratch in partnership with our key fabric suppliers in order to create new levels of performance, sustainability and aesthetics in the fabric world. Our recycled polyester, organic cotton,  and wool fabrics deliver the highest levels of technical performance, comfort and subtle style. The fabrics used throughout our line can be broken into three categories:

NATURAL FIBERS:  From the lightest weight cotton, to the heaviest wool, our natural fiber fabrics take advantage of the best qualities the Earth's products have to offer.

Organic Cotton
Conventional cotton is the most pesticide-intensive crop grown in the world today. Roughly 1/3 of a pound of agricultural chemicals goes into producing one conventional cotton T-shirt. More than 10 percent of the world's pesticides and almost 25 percent of the world's insecticides are used to grow conventional cotton. Beyond the severe cost to the environment, the impact on farmers and field workers is unacceptable to us.

All our cotton is grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or defoliants at any point during its growing season, and is certified organic. Beyond the environmental benefit, our cotton possesses higher thread counts, finer hand and more active stretch than most organic cotton on the market, resulting...